A Truly Heartfelt Story
by Nopperaboa
Summary: Set in a world where John is the princely prince of Prospit and Karkat is some troll who lives in the forest. 100% pure, authentic Johnkat.
1. Chapter 1

John peered out of the window of his bedroom over at the vast and endless forest. As he stared out of the window he would run his finger along the stone wall. It was always cool to the touch even in the hottest of weather. He was in his castle which transcended the law of gravity as it stretched up past the wandering clouds into the deep sky. He was lucky today! The sky was clear and as he looked below him he could see the ground from out of his window. It was not often that the boy was given the chance of looking at the forest. After all, he was forbidden to go there. It's not that he wasn't trusted; the king was just worried over the health of the young prince.

The boy was sitting on a hand carved chair that he pulled over to the window in order to sit and stare at the seemingly endless land beneath him. He had never officially been out of the castle as he was only 15 years old. His life was dedicated from the time of his birth to become the next successor to the throne. Of course he wasn't an only child though! He had his sister Jade whom all the young men in the kingdom could only dream of marrying. John loved his sister. She was kind to him but stern enough to keep him in his place when he strayed away from his duties.

John had never complained about his duties before because it wasn't like he didn't wish to do them. In fact, he didn't mind them at all. He thought that it was a great chance at learning new things that he knew a lot of other children his age didn't necessarily get to have. And yet there he was, staring outside and completely ignoring every responsibility that he was in charge of that morning. They could wait until noon to be done. If a servant happened to come in then maybe he could hide so he wouldn't be found slacking off. There was just no way that he was missing this rare opportunity to look at the mountains a couple of miles from the castle.

He continued to stare at the dark leafy trees and sighed. Actually, what was said earlier was a lie. John did indeed mind all of the responsibility put on him. He often dreamt about what it would be like if he wasn't born prince. He creates scenarios inside of his head during his lessons that consist of him doing a normal job. Maybe something like a shoe maker? No, he'd want to be a blacksmith. Anything! He would just be happy living a normal life. The young prince desperately wants to go outside of the walls of the castle. There are simply too many interesting things out in the world!

The planet in which John Egbert lives on goes by the name of Prospit. Trolls, humans, and Carapacians all co-exist throughout the lands of Prospit. Actually, all the different types of groups are separated into their own little communities. The reason for this is not because of segregation but rather because it makes everyone more comfortable. Each community has their own culture so it is fairly rare to see trolls and humans living together in the same town. As for the Carapacians, they live everywhere. There isn't a town in which they do not reside in except for some hostile troll villages. The trolls and humans tend to not run into conflicts with each other because they've learned to accept the diversity of the planet. Also, John's father is the king of the planet! If the two species didn't get along then the monarchy wouldn't work!

There is another planet that exists besides Prospit and another kingdom to go along with it. Derse is a planet not unlike Prospit except for the fact that the people are a little bit more, well, unfriendly. On Derse it is actually more common to find a troll rather than a human because of the planet's tendency to be so dark and everyone knows that trolls are nocturnal! Despite some of the hostility, some of them can be quite nice actually! John has met his fair share of Derse citizens through the big global dinners that his castle hosts occasionally. The dinners aren't held often because it takes forever to travel between the two planets. Both Derse and Prospit are connected to a much larger planet called Skaia. It's the only connection that the two smaller planets have with each other. Skaia is run by a man that everyone calls Lord Huss. He is the complete ruler over all the land including both planets. He oversees the two kingdoms and allows travelers to move from one to the other. There isn't a direct connection from Derse to Prospit because the two don't _exactly_ get along. Sooner or later they're going to have to make some sort of compromise because the tension is growing.

Okay, so, maybe the world wasn't quite as exciting as he was making it out to be. John still felt compelled to go out into the world and immerse himself in the freedom to just do whatever he felt like for once. If only he could figure out a way to leave the castle without being caught by the pesky guards! Stupid guards doing their job and whatnot. How terrible! A sudden knock on the door pulled John from his thoughts.

"Lord John your father requests for your acquaintance." Ah, it was just one of the servants. While lost in thought John had forgotten to hide but it doesn't matter now. His father is calling him and he'll have to oblige.

John reluctantly gets up from his comfy chair and walks out into the hallway. He wondered what his father wanted him for. It wasn't too often that he was called to go directly to the king himself. Oh well, John just hoped that it wasn't something serious. As the heir walked through the different passages in the castle he took in the scenery as if it was the first time he had ever seen it. He grew up in this castle but that doesn't mean that he was used to it. It was far too large and spacious and no one needed this much room. Copious paintings were hung on the wall of past kings and queens and John felt a little special for being able to be a part of such a strong blood line. No matter what though he never let the fame and attention get to his head. Somehow he managed to stay humble.

No one had even told John where to find his father but that didn't matter. John knew that his father's favorite place in the castle was his study. When his father wasn't in the throne room he was in his office trying to figure out how to better the kingdom. His father has always been a great man and he was favored by all of the kingdom's residents! John could only hope to become as great of a king as his father and with all of his training he surely would.

John poked his head around the corner of the wall to find that his father was indeed sitting in his chair scribbling away on some pieces of paper. Even though no sound was made, the king noticed John's presence and lifted his head to look at him.

"Son, sit down please." Oh God he sounds serious. At that moment John was really wishing that his father wasn't mad about anything. John hadn't done anything wrong except for slack off a few times. Yeah, yeah, he knows that it's unsightly for a prince to slack off but everyone's got to have some sort of relaxation!

"I've got a very important topic to discuss with you. I hope that you weren't too busy with your princely duties." John swallowed hard and his eyes shifted around his room. He was done for. Whatever he did was bad enough for his dad to interrupt his supposed duties.

"Uh, er, yes dad?" John was tense in his seat as he waited for his father's response. His hands were clamped together and his foot was tapping nervously.

"Well son, I believe that it's time that we've had a certain talk; _the talk_ in fact. I think that you are old enough to be able to understand this now and I hope you'll hear me through."

Wait, what? No. He couldn't mean _that _talk. That's not something that John wants to hear right now! He had already figured it out by reading an erotic book by accident! (He swore that it was completely a mistake. There's no way he did that on purpose because he was curious, oh no.) John's father is about to start talking but he's interrupted.

"Dad, I don't think we need to have this talk. I mean, I know I'm a growing boy and all but it can hold off until later." King Egbert just gave John a small smile and continued on.

"But son I insist that I finally tell you your Nana's cake recipe. It's imperative that you know because it is an Egbert family recipe." John almost fell out of his seat when he realized what his dad was actually talking about. He always knew that his father treasured baking but not to where he was so serious about it! He really thought that he was about to have a long and uncomfortable conversation with his father.

"Jane is already waiting for you in the kitchen. You'll need to help her make dessert for the dinner meeting tonight. You know that Nana would be very proud of you." Oh, right. John had almost forgotten that today was the day that there was supposed to be some sort of big and huge dinner party with guests from all over Prospit and Derse. He wasn't exactly a fan of cakes but it's not like baking them was unbearable. At least he was good at it.

The prince agreed to go help Jane and left the room soon after. Jane had always been a motherly figure to John. Or maybe she was like a sweet grandma? Nevertheless, she was always cooking as she was the best in the kingdom! The king had appointed her to the mandatory position of Baking master in the castle. For as long as John could remember, Jane had been around to bake him sweets and make him some cookies when he was feeling too stressed. It was really a wonder that John never got fat.

After traveling through more extensive hallways he found his way to the kitchen. It was a rather large room (much like the others) and was filled with many servants busily preparing for tonight's dinner. He found Jane at one of the tables and went up to greet her. She was working her way through some batter for the cake and it looked like John was a little too late to get to help. Of course there was no way that Jane was going to wait around for some teenage boy to help her make a cake. She was a busy woman with a tight schedule. Jane did however let him pour the batter in a pan and put it in the oven.

After that he was shooed away by Jane and was told to get ready for the dinner. It was only a couple of hours away and he decided that it was a good idea to take a while to get ready. While walking up an endless staircase to his room he bumped into Jade. His sister was already dressed entirely and he had to admit that she looked stunning. It's a mystery how girls walked around in big dresses like that but Jade managed to somehow make it look effortless. She kept running past you and said something about the Derse royalty already being here and she had to entertain them. John watched her as she descended down the steps. He then decided that he should probably really get ready because the guests were already coming and he isn't even dressed.

He then donned on his princely garb and of a cloak-like cape that had his symbol, heir of breath, sewn on to it. He looked at himself in the mirror and frowned at his hair. It looked as if it had never been brushed before in his life; as if it had been tousled by the wind. John made a slight effort in order to fix his messy hair but to no avail. He decided that it was just a waste of time to fool with it anymore and left the privacy of his room.


	2. Chapter 2

The grand hall had to be one of the biggest rooms in the castle. Tall Columns were placed in rows on both sides of the room which made it feel like some sort of ancient Greek temple. People had already begun to show up and it looked as if almost everyone had arrived. John assumed his seat at the table next to his father's and waited for the dinner to begin.

The king got up on his podium and cleared his throat. Everyone quieted down seeing that the King of Prospit was about to make an announcement. It was normal for John's dad to make speeches for these dinner-type things and it was also expected of him. John doesn't really like these dinners because they are so very formal. Sometimes he would just like to be able to talk to someone normally.

"To all of my loyal subjects before me, I am here today to announce that the prince shall be marrying the princess of Derse! This shall end the feud between our kingdoms and create peace and harmony once and for all. Let us all celebrate this occasion together." As soon as he heard his father's announcement, John jumped a little in his seat. Oh, right. That was something that John had forgotten about already. His father had mentioned this subject to him beforehand so it's not anything new to him. In order to bring the planets together, he and Rose are to be married. He can't really blame his father for doing this. In fact, he was asked many times if he was okay with the plan. John felt as if he had no right to resist. After all, it's not like he has anyone that he liked. Rose was a great gal anyways! Or at least that's what John thought. He has never met Rose formally. He's only ever seen her at the dinners but they've never had an actual conversation. John sighed as the crowd cheered upon hearing the announcement. It's not like he was sad or anything. John Egbert never got sad.

After the dinner was over and all of the guests had left, John was finally able to return to his room. He opened the door and walked over to his window. Darn, it was too dark and cloudy to see the forest right now. He stared out of the opening for quite a while even though he couldn't see anything. He wasn't paying attention to anything in particular and he wasn't really thinking either. All he knew was that he was overcome with the overwhelming feeling to leave the castle this instant and damn it he was going to do it. Tonight.

Of course the castle exits are pretty well guarded but that doesn't mean there isn't a way or two for John to sneak his way out. Casually and completely unsuspicious, John strolls through the large hallways and corridors searching for an unmanned exit. John even tried searching for some secret doors because what kind of huge castle doesn't have a secret door?! Not a very good one obviously. John walked through the large household for what seemed like hours before stumbling upon the ticket to his momentary freedom. He has actually giving up about 20 minutes into searching and took a break in one of the many book rooms. There was something about the room that gave John a long forgotten familiar feeling. He sat in his usual spot propped up against the wall until he finally remembered just what was so special about this room!

Thinking back to almost 7 years ago, John remembered a time where Jane was going through her rebellious stage and somehow managed to find a hidden door to the outside gardens while trying to get some peace and quiet away from everyone in the castle. On one of the days Jane had escaped by using the door, John had followed out behind her. As soon as she had noticed John she grew panicked and yelled at him to never use the door to leave. Of course she yelled because she was worried and she even took it to the point to where whenever John would ask about the door, Jane would act like she had never heard of such a thing. Eventually John learned to stop asking and the memory of the door had faded with the years.

John was itching to see the outside world unattended so he searched for the door where he remembered it. Push a stone here, move a book shelf there, and there it was. The entrance to his dreams. The hidden door wasn't quite as impressive as he had remembered it to be, but at least the castle has something.

The opening lead John down a flight of spiral stairs that looked as though they never ended. In truth, it was actually a very short walk and he had already made it to the other side. Blocking the exit were a couple of bushes that John had to push through in order to finally step foot out of the castle. He scanned left and right for a final check to make sure no guards were around. It was clear. John took off running as fast as he could off the parameters of the castle and closer and closer to the forest.


	3. Chapter 3

With the feeling of fresh air moving in and out of his lungs and the shade being the only thing covering him from the sun, John felt at peace. It was so refreshing to finally be on his own in the world even if it wasn't going to last forever. His eager fast pace turned into a stroll as he went deeper and deeper into the woods. Of course John had been warned about the forest and blahblah he wasn't listening. The last time he had heard anything bad about the forest was when some poor girl got lost due to all of the trees looking the same and that was years ago! Besides, John had been keeping up with some things that he had passed like that mushroom circle a while back… and that one flower… yeah. He wasn't lost at all.

All he had wanted to do was get some alone time but now he is stuck wondering If he was even walking in a straight line. Had he made any turns? He didn't know or he didn't remember. To his surprise John actually stumbled upon a well-worn path in the grass and since he didn't know where he was, John decided that he should follow it.

The walk along the path didn't even take long. It had brought him to the doorstep of a wooden house that looked very creaky and rather old. It was hard to tell if the house or shack had been abandoned so John was unsure of heading inside. Cautiously, he cracked open the door and glanced around to see if anyone was currently home. After hearing and seeing nothing John opened the door all the way and walked right in. The building wasn't very tall at all, if John raised his arm up all the way he would have touched the ceiling. From what he could see there was only a desk, a closet, and a worn down bed. Everything was made out of wood and John was surprised to see just how little taste they had in décor.

At second glance there were a couple of things placed haphazardly on the desk. A couple of small scraps of paper here and there with some strange symbols drawn on them. The characters sort of looked like a language but John sure couldn't read it so it couldn't have been English. Maybe the owner of the notes had terrible penmanship? Probably.

The thing that John saw next stunned him. He picked up the object and saw that it was a sickle, all clean and sharp. The colors were bright and vibrant and, wow, those colors don't even go together at all. Green, pink, and white? Not the best color choice. John became a little concerned because the sickle definitely fit the definition of a weapon that a troll would use… but there were no trolls living on Prospit! At least John hadn't heard of any. The thing that scared him the most was that the Sickle looked like it was handled not too long ago and that meant that someone was going to return for it. John quickly set the weapon down and let the gears in his brain turn.

At that moment John made the fantastic decision to hightail it out of the shack-like house and run in a completely straight line until he reached the familiar scene of the castle garden. There were a couple of guards around so John had to use the main door back into the large estate. When the guards asked him what he had been doing John just brushed it off as nothing more than a late night walk.

Luckily no one had noticed that John was gone for over two hours. With a place that large it would be hard to keep track of anybody to be honest. Besides, no one was really up by now except for some servants and the night guards. Everyone else was sound asleep which made it easy to sneak back up to his room. After walking down a couple of hallways and up a long flight of stairs, John reached his room. He slipped into his princely prince pajamas and hopped inside his bed. Proud of his little adventure, he went to sleep with a smile.

Only a couple of days after his last endeavor, John was itching to head out into the forest again. He was also curious to see if the sickle had been taken. Surely the owner would've come back to retrieve their weapon by now! It was simple. John would head on into the forest through the secret door, check to see if the sickle was there or not, and head back to the castle. That should be enough to satisfy his urge to leave for now.

He went through the hidden door and out towards the dark leafy trees completely unseen by any of the watchmen. John tried his best to remember how he had gotten to the shack in the first place. Past the mushroom circle and that one weird flower, and there it was! Before approaching the house John quickly looked around to check and see if there were any signs of others. From what he could tell, there were none and he headed inside the house for the second time.

To his disappointment the sickle was still there unmoved from where he set it down. Kind of a huge bummer. John was hopping that he would at least get to know if there was a troll on Prospit or not. As he stared at the room there was a crackle of leaves from outside. Oh God someone is out there!

His only place to hide was the closet and John had no other choice other than to sit it in with the doors closed and wait until the person goes away. John heard the door creak open and the sound of footsteps on the ragged floor. The footsteps got closer until the person was standing right in front of the closet.

"You're the little shit that messed with my stuff the other day aren't you?"

The closet doors were opened and what John saw surprised him. Standing before him was a small troll with little horns peeking out of his messy hair. Weird. John found his appearance strangely cute.


	4. Chapter 4

While sitting in the closet John stared up at the troll standing before him.

"Uh, heh, sorry about the intrusion…" That was all John managed to spit out and it only made the troll look angrier, if that was possible.

"What the fuck are you doing in my hive? And get out of the damn closet." John gave him a nervous smile and stepped out of the closet slowly. This isn't exactly how John wanted this to go. He was expecting someone a lot nicer but this troll's voice was rough and hoarse and his body language screamed "I'm so gonna kill you". John could probably take him. As a prince of course he had some sword training in order to defend himself. The only problem was that John had left his sword at the castle. Why does he always think of things right when he needs them? Why doesn't he prepare more for his adventures? He sure as hell doesn't know.

The other boy took a step closer to John which snapped him out of his thoughts. He drew out a knife from his bag and took yet another step closer. John panicked and shrieked out the most uncharacteristic yelp he could.

"PLEASE don't kill me! I'm harmless and I taste bad!" John put his hands up to shield his face and he heard a dry scoff.

"I'm not going to kill you. I'm setting down my god damn knife of this god damn table. Besides, I'm not going to waste my precious time stabbing you. Now would you mind getting the _fuck_ out of my hive?"

Well, that was some good news. His voice was still pretty harsh but he didn't sound like a liar. That or maybe John was just too trusting.

"Well uh… thanks for not killing me and all and really, sorry about coming in here. I just wanted to meet you."

"Meet me? You don't even know me." The troll narrowed his eyes and managed to scrunch his eyebrows up even more. It's amazing how mad he could look.

"I guess you could say I was… interested? Curious? I don't know. I just wanted to meet a troll in person." Now the troll's expression morphed into a really unimpressed look, almost like he was too tired to give a shit about this conversation anymore.

"Well congratu-fucking-lations you can check off meeting little-old-me on your god damn bucket list. Now seriously, go away or I might actually end up killing you. Your face is giving me a headache."

Heh. John thought that the way the other guy talked was interesting. He had never heard such foul language come out of anyone's mouth before in his life. One time he did hear Jane say shoot, but that's the closest he's ever come to hearing someone curse. Just when John was about to respond, the troll's stomach growled. The prince looked at the boy's stomach and chuckled a little bit.

"Are you hungry?" John said this with a little more laughter in his voice. He couldn't take him seriously if his stomach had the rumblies.

"No I'm not hungry." The troll's stomach growled again. He let out an irritated huff and gave John a glare that dared him to mention his stomach noises again.

"Just get out of my fucking hive or I'll slice your throat. Right now."

"Dude, I could go grab you some food—"

"GET OUT."

John was shoved out of the door so fast he didn't have time to catch himself and fell on his face. He wiped off some mud and patted the dirt off of his clothes. Jeez, the troll sure was touchy and pretty hungry. Being the perfect gentleman with a heart of gold, John decided to bring him some food on his next venture into the woods. On the way back to the castle he brainstormed of different foods he could bring to the shack.

The next day John couldn't decide what time would be best to being the food. He went to the kitchen with a bag and chatted with Jane for a little bit. As soon as she would turn her back he would take a pastry from the table. There's no way she'd notice, she had baked over 100 by the afternoon alone so John didn't feel too bad. When he felt that he had enough he said his goodbyes and headed off to the secret door.

It was late in the afternoon and John couldn't wait to see the surprise on the troll's face! He decided to not go into the house without being invited because he doesn't want to repeat their last meeting. He knocked once, and then again, and then again. He couldn't hear anyone inside so he cracked open the door to look. No one was home. What a bummer, now John was going to have to wait for the troll to make his appearance. He sat down on a crate leaning up against the outside of the house and waited patiently.

A whole hour went by and just as John was nodding off to sleep, he heard a familiar voice say "You've got to be fucking kidding me." John looked up and saw the troll emerging from the trees and walking towards him.

"Are you seriously here right now. Are you seriously sitting in front of my house." John felt like those weren't actual questions directed at him. More like they were to help the troll accept the situation.

"I brought you food!" John gave off the cheesiest grin he could muster and it just made the troll face-palm.

"I told you I wasn't hungry, I am more than capable of getting my own damn food." He stomped past John and went inside and slammed the door. John was a little upset that he didn't even bother to ask what he brought but he hadn't given up yet. He stood up and talked through the door.

"Oh come on man! I just brought you some sweet, deliciously baked pastries! If you don't eat them then I'm just gonna throw them out, I'll do it too!" He heard a shuffling inside the house and smirked. That had to get him out. He heard footsteps and the door creaked open ever so slightly. He could only see half of the troll's face.

"Alright I'll take your sickeningly sweet pastries."

Score! It's worked!


	5. Chapter 5

John smiles wide as he steps into the hive of a certain grumpy troll. Karkat opens the door more and aggressively yanks the bag of pastries out of John's hand. He made his way to the only table in the room and John followed him to sit down. Karkat takes one suspicious sniff of the sweets before taking a small bite.

"Dude, I didn't poison them you know. They're normal pastries!"

"Shut the fuck up. I wasn't checking for poison! I was just smelling it you dumbass." John let out a small laugh at his new friend's rather crude comment, but it made him happy anyways. It felt really nice to have a normal conversation with someone, if that's what you could call it. A wave of relief fell over John when he came out into the forest, and now he actually has someone to talk to while he visits! John might not know very much about the troll but he is determined to make this friendship work.

"Wow, jeez, I don't even know your name! Mine's John, what's yours?" John didn't want to share his last name incase Karkat knew about the whole royalty business. Typically people treated John more like an object rather than a human when he told them that he's from a royal bloodline. He honestly didn't think that the troll would even know about the Egbert name or care but just to be safe, he kept quiet.

"My name is none of your fucking business." Wow! What a rude answer!

"Oh c'mon! I want to be able to call you something other than that one troll dude in the forest. You won't tell me at all?"

"No I won't tell you at all and guess whose business that still isn't, fucking yours. Any other mundane get-to-know-each-other friendship building questions you want to ask me while I nod and shake my head up and down?"

"Dude! I gave you food! Some nice warm handmade pastries! There will be more in the future if you just talk to me about yourself!" John was starting to get irritated. Why was it so hard for the troll to talk about himself? All he wanted to know was his name!

"I don't care about your god damned pastries or the fact that someone's disgusting disease-ridden hands gently caressed them! You don't even have to come here. I sure as hell didn't ask for you to spend the fucking night so we can have a sleepover you shit." That was it! John was tired of this guy. All he was trying to do was make a friend, jeez! Now all John feels is anger and discouragement and he decides that maybe the troll isn't even worth dealing with.

"Jeez! You're so fucking hard to talk to! I'm being nice and all you do is come back with some shitty answer! Maybe that's why you're all alone in this forest and maybe that's why you have no friends! You're a douchebag, you know that?"

"Get out of my fucking hive." Perhaps John had said too much or was too harsh and he felt a little twinge of guilt. He was ready to apologize but Karkat wouldn't listen.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't mean it, I just wanted to-."

"Get out of my _fucking_ hive before I take my knife and shove it down your damn throat." John realized that the troll's threat was not empty and turned around to leave karkat sitting alone in his home with the pastries. Before he stepped through the doorway he looked back and whispered sorry and closed the door behind him.

The walk back home was long and John the whole time he was thinking about how much he messed up. Maybe he should've respected his privacy, but then again, why is it so hard for him to say his name? Well, it was John's fault for saying that he is all alone but then why did he have to be so mean? A simple no would've been enough for John. Half of himself wanted to bring him more pastries as an apology, but the other half was stuck on staying mad at the other boy.

When John got to the castle, he decided that he would go to sleep and try to forget about his failed attempt at making a friend.

Over the next couple of days no matter how hard John tried, he couldn't stop thinking about how things could've gone differently. In his combat lesson, he thought about it, in his music class, he was distracted by it, and he spend all other parts of the day mulling over it. Things were not looking good for John Egbert at the moment. John really did try his best to forget about his argument but the hurt look on the troll's face when John left him was burned into his memory. It had even begun to affect his sleep and right now he was lying wide away in his bed.

"Sigh." John knew what he had to do in order to get Karkat off of his mind; he needed to bake apology muffins. During the middle of the night John slipped into the kitchen and gathered his supplies. He felt like Snicker doodle muffins were good enough to apologize with and who hates snicker doodle muffins? That's right. No one.

After the muffins were fully baked John put them all in his bag and carried them up to his room making sure to be quiet. He put the bag of muffins next to his bed and was finally able to go to sleep knowing that he'd be able to make things right.

The next morning John headed out of the castle and went straight to the forest. As he neared the house his nervousness increased and his hands got just a tiny bit clammy. John walked up to the front door and before he could even knock, the door swung open and Karkat stood in front of John looking as angry as ever. Karkat was just about to open his mouth to spit out some thick vitriolic language when John began speaking.

"Wait! Before you say anything… I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, you know, pry on your personal details or anything. I made you some muffins… do you want them?" There was a rather long pause and John shifted uncomfortably. He tried reading the troll's face and he could've sworn his eyebrows softened a little bit to where he didn't look quite so mad.

"Karkat."

"What?" John gave the other boy a quizzical look.

"…My name is Karkat." Karkat looked down to the right which made him appear just the tiniest bit embarrassed. Maybe he wasn't all bite.


End file.
